Homecoming
by ringanybells
Summary: What happens before Melanie wakes up? The touching reunion between Mel, Jaime, and Jared that we were totally jipped of. Enjoy.


Melanie Stryder felt as though she would burst, her very body come apart at the seams. To come back from the edge as she had made her every nerve tingle. She hadn't controlled an action since the day she bit Jared's lip, when Jaime had been feverish. She hadn't been alone in her head since the day she threw herself down the elevator shaft, before Wanderer had been implanted. Thoughts of these people, the ones she loved most, allowed her to overcome the disorientation of sensory overload. She had to stop the doc, before he did something stupid.

"Doc? Doc? You can't let her die, Doc. You have to save Wanda, please." She called frantically. Her voice was rough, as if she hadn't spoken in weeks. Her vision was blurry, though it was clearing by the minute. She felt as though she'd been in a cave, with no light or sound or any reason to use her senses. The irony was not lost on her. She was in fact in a cave, but that had nothing to do with her predicament.

Despite the problems she experienced from her senses, she had no problem recognizing the voice that answered her. It was the single greatest sound Mel had ever heard. It sent her back to that long ago night when they had met in the middle of the desert, in a strange house, both fearing the other would be their doom. But instead of the fear she'd felt that night, her body was overwhelmed with joy, her chest tight with love. For a second she let go of every other emotion and simply focused on her joy, and that voice.

"It's okay, Mel, it's all taken care of."

Jared. If Melanie had been granted a hundred lifetimes as a soul, she would have traded every last one for just those simple words, the words that Jared spoke to her, just Melanie.

"Wanda's safe."

Her eyes were still adjusting, but she could make out his silhouette, leaning against the wall, by her feet. As her eyesight came into focus, it was locked with his. She took in the beautiful form that was Jared. Her heart rate increased and her breathing became shallow. Wanda had been right, this body did not belong to either of them, this body belonged completely and irrevocably to Jared.

And in true fashion, just as she had done on her first day in the cave, Mel threw herself across the distance, hurtling toward Jared. But like her senses, her muscle control was not what it had once been. She'd been too long without control. She underestimated the force needed. Instead of landing in his arms, she was going to fall face first on the floor. She tried to prepare herself for the pain.

But it never came. Instead heat and comfort spread through her body. Jared had anticipated her leap. He was there to catch her. He helped her regain her balance, then threw his arms around her, crushing her to him. She returned the action, striving to touch as much of him as possible, breathing in his scent.

He picked her up and twirled her. On his face was the smile from before. He was no longer the man she'd known these last weeks, the one she'd met upon first arriving- hardened by the loss of his love. He was once again the Jared from before, when they'd first met. The smile covered his face and shone through his eyes.

He stopped spinning her after a second, set her feet back on the ground and allowed her to stand. His eyes found hers and he looked at them for a second, reassuring himself that she was once again only his. Before she could find the words to do so herself, his lips were on hers.

Melanie had not known just how badly she'd missed being the one on the surface until Jared's lips were against hers, his left hand tangled in her hair, his right hand on her lower back holding her to him. She could have stayed like that forever, willingly given up on breathing, but Jared had other plans. He pulled back just slightly, enough for a single word to slip through his lips, "Melanie."

Hearing her name like that, the way he'd said it before she had been caught, before he had hardened, snapped the little control Melanie had. She pulled his face back down to hers, threw her arms around his neck and pulled herself up, wrapping her legs around his waist. She felt no resistance from him, his hands moved down to her butt, to offer support.

This time it was neither of their choices to pull away. Turns out they were not alone in the hospital room.

Ian's throat clearing caused Melanie to gather her self control. She pulled her lips reluctantly from Jared's and he allowed her to slowly unwrap her legs. When she was once again standing on her own two feet, she turned around.

Doc leaned against the operating table, Jeb next to him, a huge smile on his face. Ian stood a few feet away, a cryotank in his hands. Melanie smiled, not at all embarrassed by what had happened. She's been away from Jared for a year, part of that spent so close but unable to touch him. She deserved a chance to give him a proper hello. But they would have time to refamiliarize themselves tonight. Right now she had a few other things to focus on.

She approached Jeb first, leaving Jared's side reluctantly, "Thank you. If you hadn't trusted Wanda, trusted us, we'd be dead. I never would have had the chance to see my family again." She spared a quick glance back to Jared. She put her arms around Jeb and hugged him. He hugged her back.

"You're welcome, darling. It's good to have you with us, all the way. I reckon you're thrilled to be here." Jeb was all smiles, glad to have his niece back, even if he did miss Wanda.

He turned to the side, where Doc sat. "Doc, I'd like you to meet my niece, Melanie."

Melanie put her hand out, Doc shook it. "Thank you, Doc, for everything."

"It's great to finally meet you, Mel. And you're welcome. How're you feeling?"

Mel took a second taking a personal inventory, stretching muscles and reasserting her control. "Perfect," and she was. There was no pain, no soreness, and no more disorientation.

"I'm glad. I was afraid I might have messed something up when you didn't wake up." A weight seemed to lift off his shoulders.

Melanie looked around, confused. "What do you mean, I didn't wake up?" Her eyes locked on Jared's. "How long have I been out?"

It was Jeb who answered. "A few hours is all. It's almost midday."

Melanie did the mental math quickly. It had been late when she'd returned to the hospital room.

"I was so worried that you'd left me. I haven't been that worried since you left to find Shannon." Jared's voice held so much pain. "I mean, to have you so close, literally in arm's reach, and to then lose you. I wouldn't have been able to go on." Melanie went back to him, wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Wanda leaving was… was so disorienting. We'd become so intertwined, I guess it took a little while to remember where I belonged without her." She paused for a moment. "It's weird not having her here, not hearing her." A shiver spread down her spine. She hadn't been alone in her own head for so long, it had felt as though she'd had an arm removed, like some piece of her was missing. But she felt normal now, as she had before the elevator shaft.

Jared squeezed her to ward off the shiver. It worked. She allowed him to hold her tightly, so that she could slowly remember things as they had been before. It was nice to feel this way again, to have Jared hugging her, and only her. Despite how close she and Wanda had grown, it had still irked Mel whenever Jared had shown Wanda some measure of affection. Mel hadn't been able to stop the jealousy.

Jeb and Doc both moved toward the door, trying to subtly give the couple some time to be alone. "Well, I need something to eat. Having your life threatened can sure take a lot out of you."

Melanie started, pulling away from Jared ever so slightly. "What do you mean? Who threatened you?"

Doc's only response was to throw a pointed glance to Jared, which Jeb backed with, "Why don't you ask your boy here?" He patted a hand to Jared's shoulder as he and Doc exited the room. When Mel's eyes landed on Jared, he shrugged sheepishly. There was no hint of apology in his bearing.

His tone was also void of regret. "You wanted to save her, too." His words brought realization to Melanie. Jared had not listened to Wanda's request. He had waited in the halls until Doc had begun the procedure and then made sure that both Wanda and Mel survived.

"Thank you, Jared." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"You're welcome, Mel." She stayed in his arms, debating her next course of action. She wanted time alone with Jared, but she needed to hold Jaime. It had been too long since _she_ had been able to communicate with or touch him directly. At least with Jared, she'd had those few opportunities, those few moments of control. But Jaime was hers too, and she needed to see him.

"Jared, could you do me a favor?"

"Anything, Mel."

"I need Jaime." Jared looked down into her eyes and understood just how true that statement was. But he was loathe to leave her side, to leave her alone again. He was about to suggest that they ask Ian to go, when he read what she was trying not to say in her eyes, the ones he had been able to read so well when she was just Mel. He saw that she wanted a few moments alone with Ian, probably to discuss Wanda.

He released her, reluctantly. "Of course, I'll be right back."

She watched him leave, unable to tear her eyes away. It wasn't until he had disappeared down the hall that she could turn toward Ian, who was watching her intently, the cryotank cradled in his arms.

"So you're Melanie."

"Yes, I am." She crossed her arms. "I don't know if I should kick your ass for violating my personal space," she watched him tense, as if he hadn't been expecting a fight, but would participate in one if forced, "or thank you for helping us find our place here. You made life here much better for her." She indicated Wanda with a nod of her head toward the tank. "And I guess I kind of owe you for saving my life." A puzzled expression came over his face. "When Jaime was sick," she cringed at the memory those words brought forward, "and I was gone, it was your idea to get Jared. Wanda wouldn't have thought of it, not fast enough. She hated having to use you but she never would have thought to do it any other way."

"She hated having to use me?" Melanie could hear the hurt in Ian's voice.

"Relax, Ian. I meant use as in take advantage of. She thought it was horribly unfair to you. But she couldn't lose me, not with Jaime sick. So thank you. And I guess I won't knock you out."

He chuckled. "I'll tell you what, once you're ready, we'll have a match. You and Jared versus Kyle and I. Any shots on the field are completely legal."

Melanie allowed herself a small chuckle. Clearly Ian didn't realize that Wanda's skills on the field had not been her own. Wanda's athletics had been purely and completely Mel's. "You're on."

Ian allowed silence to descend for a moment before breaking it. "Are you happy she's gone?" His voice betrayed only a hint of his feelings. But Melanie could read them loud and clear, Ian resented her presence, even if it was only a little.

"When you asked what my vote was, I told her to stay." She saw this did not surprise him at all, he'd known even during the vote that Wanda had been lying. "But yes I am happy she's gone, and at the same time, I'm not. It's kind of complicated. In the beginning, I hated her so much. You have no idea what it's like to be invaded from the inside. To have every bit of control stripped away, to be violently pushed into oblivion. I had to struggle constantly to continue existing, and to protect my secrets. It made things difficult at first. I held out for so long, months before she discovered Jaime's existence. If it hadn't been for his birthday, and that dream…I had to try so hard that day not to think about him, but the strain of knowing I would never see him again was too much. And then Wanda told that Seeker about him. It made me hate her more."

"But when the Seeker came to ask us about Jaime, Wanda's dislike for her bonded her with me. For the first time we shared a common emotion, we both hated and feared this person, because we both knew she could destroy us. Wanda feared the Seeker would see I was still present, and I feared she would discover Jaime. Then the Seeker suggested that she be placed inside my body, that she would be able to ferret out my secrets. That was what brought Wanda and I together, we had to unite against our enemy. In desperation to protect my secrets from the Seeker, I shared them with Wanda, I showed her why I refused to be silenced, why I held on so tightly."

"I forced her to see Jaime, to see Jared. I let my soul open so that she could feel what they meant to me, what her kind had stolen from me." Melanie saw the anger on Ian's face. "Relax, O'Shea. In the beginning, she deserved it. She'd stolen my body, took me from everything that mattered. And then she slowly betrayed them, my family, giving bits and pieces to the enemy, as I slowly gave up. As I grew weaker, I had to relinquish certain pieces, to preserve my strength for the things that mattered most. Letting her feel what I was hiding, what I'd lost, it was what she wanted. She wanted my past and my memories, so that she could destroy them. I had to make sure that didn't happen. I made her love them, made her see why I had risked everything to protect them, so that she would save them. It was what had to happen." She could see the understanding pass through his eyes.

"Then, she brought me here. She gave me back the two most important pieces of my life. She and I became friends, sisters. What happened to her, happened to me. Yes, I am happy to be me again, to be able to speak through my own lips and lift my own arms and think my own thoughts. But I miss her. She was a very big part of my life. Once we fix this, everything will be fine."

Before Ian could ask what she meant, a new voice interrupted. "Wanda? Jared said you wanted me." Mel was momentarily frozen. Hearing Jaime did not produce the same reaction that Jared's voice had. It was the opposite with her brother. With Jared, she had had no control over her actions, now though, she could not make her body move. "Wanda?"

His voice gave her enough strength to turn, to face him. She stood frozen, a room's width away.

It took him a long minute to notice the difference; because her eyes had never been the first thing he looked at. He had never been bothered by Wanda's presence, unlike everyone else. The glow of her eyes had stopped being his focal point long ago. But as he took her in from across the room, his eyes did eventually land on her own. It took him one additional second to notice the difference. She watched as his eyes grew to the size of saucers, as he rapidly put two and two together.

"Mel?!" He was across the room before her name had left his mouth. He threw his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

His contact having broken the spell she was under, she returned the hug just as fiercely. "Oh, Jaime baby, I promised I would come back. I'm sorry it took so long. I missed you so much." Her knees gave out and she slid to the floor, Jaime going with her. They were still clinging to each other as though for dear life.

It wasn't that Jaime hadn't known Melanie was in there with Wanda, but actually holding _her_, and not just someone who looked like her, were two very different things. Mel had been the only thing in his life for so long, had taken care of him, protected him. When she'd been taken, he had been so lost, even with Jared. When Wanda had shown up, it had gone a long way in healing his pain, but it was nothing to how he felt now, actually having Mel in front of him, in full control of her body.

Mel felt the same way. Seeing and speaking to Jaime through Wanda's eyes had been great, more than she had hoped for when she had first woken up to find her body had been high jacked. But being in control again was ten times better.

"It's okay, Mel. I missed you, too. But everything is fine now. We're together again."

Mel let the tears go, the ones she had been unable to cry for months, tears for having been caught, tears for leaving Jaime, tears for losing Jared, tears for finding them again only to have to watch them from the backseat, unable to truly be reunited.

While she and Jaime had been crying on the floor, Ian and the cryotank had disappeared. He had seen the way Melanie had looked at Jaime, the way the boys face had lit up when he recognized his sister, and had been ashamed that he had begrudged them this. The two of them had been through a lot. They were young; they'd had to learn to fend for themselves so fast, had nearly been betrayed by their own father. At least he had had Kyle; the two of them had been adults when the invasion had happened. He couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for Jaime and Mel, and then to lose each other? Who was he to claim his own happiness was more important than their family. In his desire to keep Wanda, he had forgotten that it wasn't just Jared that he was keeping Melanie from.

Ian passed Jared on his way out, and gave him a small nod. Jared walked into the infirmary, only to find brother and sister in a heap on the floor. He couldn't help the tears that came to his eyes. Mel sought his gaze, when their eyes locked, she spoke, "What are you doing over there, you idiot?"

"I wanted to give you two a minute to be a family."

"Jared, Jaime and I haven't been a family since the day I met you. We're not whole unless you're here too."  
Jared came over and put one arm on Jaime's back and the other around Melanie's waist. He held tight because he had felt that way too, un-whole without them both. Mel and Jaime were his family; he just wanted to give them a moment. Because he didn't plan on letting Melanie go again for a very long time.

Jaime enjoyed the moment a little longer, so happy to be able to see Melanie in her own face. But then he pulled back, "Where's Wanda?"

"Ian has her."

"What's going to happen to her?"

"That depends." Melanie was quickly thinking it through. If both Jared and Jaime agreed with her, and Jeb and Doc would as well, they could get Wanda a new body. Even if Ian didn't like it. She wasn't sure where he would side, but it didn't matter, because according to Jeb's rules, the rights' of a sibling were just as important as those of a lover. That meant that Jaime's vote would count. And she'd spent the last year locked in Wanda's head, that gave her the leverage she would need, Wanda had become her sister, her only confidant, it didn't matter that she hadn't had any one else. She and Wanda had been one, sort of.

"What does it depend on?"

"On whether we can get her another body, and whether Ian lets us near that damn tank."

"But what about Jeb's rules? Technically, Ian's got final say." Jared was hopeful, but she could also hear doubt in his voice.

"I'm banking on Jeb's rules to save her. Jaime, if you agree, you're vote should count just as much as before. After what she went through to save you, what _she _did, no one can deny that you're as much my brother as hers."

"Well, that will even up the count."

"No, it gives us the edge. My say is in there, too. No one knows Wanda as well as I do. I shared her mind, for Pete's sake. I'm pretty sure that trumps lover any day of the week. And I owe her, for so much. I'll knock Ian out if I have to."

"Mel, that's not the best option."

"No, and it's not my first choice. But I'll do it if I have too. I begged her not to do this to us, but she wouldn't listen to me."

"You begged her?"

"Jared, it's not like that. I wanted to come back, I did. But it's like Wanda said, I can't just erase her. That's not fair. I love her." Jared nodded, he understood. "Besides, having her around has helped so much."

The two boys nodded their heads. The piece of Mel's heart that belonged to Wanda, the only part not basking in the joy of being in Jared and Jaime's arms, relaxed. It was going to be okay. She and Jaime had lasted a long time, succeeding where so many others had failed. Jared had done the same, alone, and then managed to bring Jaime here. And she had managed to show a soul her heart and be reunited with her family. There was nothing they couldn't do. So Mel allowed herself a few moments to just absorb the control and feeling that she had missed for so long. Jared and Jaime would help her save Wanda. And she would keep everyone here alive. Maybe the human race was angry and violent, but there was more to them than that. For all the anger and hate, there was hope and love. The soul's had been to a dozen or more planets, managed to suppress their inhabitants, only here on Earth had the natives been able to fight the invasion effectively. Not by mass suicide, or group violence, but by one person showing one soul the meaning of love.


End file.
